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Development of state-managed publishing in China: Ancient texts, Qing History and current gazetteers
ARTICLE IN PRESS The International Information & Library Review (2008) 40, 121–128
Available at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
Development of state-managed publishing in China: Ancient texts, Qing History and current gazetteers$ Chengzhi Wang Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Summary This article examines the development and status of state-managed publishing in China by introducing and analyzing the history and development of the three most important national level directorates, i.e., the National Leading Group for the Planning of Collating and Publishing of Ancient Texts, the National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History, and the National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers. The article explores the history, publishing policies and operations of the three directorates, and the reasons why the state commits significant political, human and financial resources to publishing. It is argued that collaboration and unity between scholars and state, instead of independent scholarship and constructive dialogue, are ultimately pursued in the unprecedented large-scale publishing projects. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction As China turns wealthier and stronger, the Chinese government has increased its investment in large-scale book projects. Among the areas in which the state has exhibited special interest and committed significant resources are the analysis and editing of ancient texts, the writing of an official account of Qing history, and the compilation of gazetteers and yearbooks. Substantial political, human and $
This paper was presented in Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference 2007, in Panel 185 Access to Chinese Studies Resources in the Information Age: Trends, Challenges, and Strategies. The author acknowledges helpful comments from Dr. Tai-loi Ma, Panel Chair, Dr. Hilde De Weerdt, Panel Discussant, and Dr. Li Wang, Dr. Shuyong Jiang, and Dr. Jidong Yang, other three panel paper presenters. Dr. Lauran Hartley also carefully read and commented on the paper. Thanks are also due to anonymous reviewers. E-mail address: [email protected] 1057-2317/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2008.01.001
financial resources have been invested and a great number of publications printed in recent years. High-profile directorates at the national level, representing the top authorities of China, exercise effective management of scholarship and publishing in these three areas. These directorates include the National Leading Group for the Planning of Collating and Publishing of Ancient Texts (Quanguo guji zhengli chuban guihua lingdao xiaozu), the National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History (Guojia Qing shi zuanxiu lingdao xiaozu) and the National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers (Quanguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu). Overall, the state’s active involvement and endorsement contributes greatly to scholarly research and publishing. This paper briefly reviews the history, publishing policies and operations of the three directorates and introduces their main publishing initiatives and products. It also examines the impact, both expected and unexpected, of state management and investment on the development of
ARTICLE IN PRESS 122 source materials and library collections. The paper also attempts to provide some useful advice for librarians and scholars with regard to accessing and collecting such statemanaged publications, which are being issued in increasing quantity.
National Leading Group for the Planning of Collating and Publishing of Ancient Texts (Quanguo guji zhengli chuban guihua lingdao xiaozu) After some 10 years of experimentation and development following the civil war, socialist China was positioned for large-scale cultural programs and other radical changes. In 1958, the State Council created the Directorate of Ancient Texts. Qi Yanming, Deputy Minister of Culture, headed the group. The Directorate was housed in Zhonghua shuju, a leading publisher specializing in ancient texts. The Directorate’s primary work was to draft the ‘‘Major Plan on Collating and Publishing Ancient Texts in Three to Eight Years (1960–1967).’’ The plan was socialist China’s first governmental document on collating and publishing ancient texts, and a great number of high-quality classics were then collated and published—in particular, large sets such as The Complete Tang Poetry (Quan Tang shi) and the Complete Song Ci-poetry (Quan Song Ci). During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the Directorate, like most academic and cultural establishments in China, was suspended. However, Chairman Mao cherished strong and sustained interest in standard histories, and in 1971 the work of punctuating, collating and annotating the 24 Standard Dynastic Histories (24 shi) and the Draft Standard History of the Qing (Qing shi gao) were ordered to continue. With the best historians summoned to Beijing for this project, the 24 shi and Qing shi gao were completed in 1975 and published as a set of 299 volumes of 38 million characters. This set was considered the first large-scale, high-quality publishing project of ancient texts in China. After China started to reform and open up in the late 1970s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee issued the ‘‘Order on Collating and Publishing Our Country’s Ancient Texts’’ (1981), and the State Council soon resurrected the Directorate of Ancient Texts. In 1982, the Directorate laid out its plans for 1982–1990, and the State Council earmarked special funds for its implementation. The following year, a parallel organization was created under the Ministry of Education. It was called the Work Commission on the Collation and Research of Ancient Texts in Institutions of Higher Education, and similar commissions were formed in the ministries of Agriculture, Public Health, and Ethnic Affairs. In 1999, the State Council reorganized the Directorate and placed it under the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). Since then, the director of GAPP has headed the Directorate; and the GAPP’s Division of Book Publishing Management has served as host for the Directorate. The major responsibilities of the Directorate continue to be planning, coordinating, and overseeing the implementation of the plans (PCPACT, 2003). In recent years, however, its role in seeking appropriations from the Ministry of Finance via GAPP, inviting and accepting book proposals,
C. Wang and giving out grants has become as significant as planning and administering the publication of ancient texts. The Directorate relies on publishers to solicit authors’ manuscripts and to produce and print the books. Publishers often invite experts to participate in book projects, for which publishers submit grant proposals to the Directorate. After evaluating the proposals, the Directorate selects a certain number of projects for inclusion in a national publishing plan, normally for a 5- or 10-year period. In response to an increasingly challenging book market in the new era, a guild of 19 publishers specializing in the collation and publication of ancient texts was formed in 1999. The membership has since increased to 22. The guild promotes the interests of the ancient text publishing industry, particularly in publishing market-oriented books and coordinating efforts to increase book sales. Only 29% of the book titles published by these 22 presses are actually related to ancient texts (Yang, 2006). Other publishers, especially academic and university presses, also publish books related to ancient texts. The 22 guild members, however, serve as the major force in the industry. It is mainly these publishers’ proposals that help the Directorate formulate its planning; and it is mainly these publishers who implement the Directorate’s plans successfully, or not. With the belief that it is hard to make a profit publishing ancient texts in a much freer book market, the Directorate started subsidizing such publishers with grants since 1992. Since 2000, the annual grants have increased significantly, from 2.43 million yuan in 2000, 2.878 million in 2001, 3.695 million in 2002, 4.882 in 2003, 6 million in 2004, to 6.12 million yuan in 2005 (PCPACT, 2005). The major portion of the grants usually goes to the 22 guild members. In 2006, the Directorate received 259 grant proposals from 74 publishers. In all, 105 were accepted and a total of 7.37 million yuan was awarded. Of the 105 awards, 82 went to the 22 presses; this represented a total of 6.71 million yuan, accounting for 91% of the total grants (PCPACT, 2006a). Just recently, the Ministry of Finance increased its annual appropriation for the Directorate to about 10 million yuan—representing another huge increase in funding. In addition, the Ministry will, starting in 2007, allocate special annual funds to create a Publishing Foundation under GAPP to support large-scale publishing projects related to ancient texts. The foundation was first started with 100 million yuan, of which 40 million will be used for Zhonghua dadian, the grand leishu (classified books or encyclopedias) of today’s China intended to surpass all precedents in history in both quantity and quality (Long, 2006). Despite the substantial increase of government funding, the publishing projects in recent years were not all completed as planned. During the 10th Five-Year Plan (2000–2005), 13 of the 207 planned book projects, or about 6%, were withdrawn. Another 12.5% could not be completed during 2006. The Directorate admitted to two major reasons: first, many projects are very ambitious series of congshu (collectanea) or jikan (anthologies), such as Zhonggua jiben guji ku (The Library of Essential Ancient Texts of China) of three billion characters and Zhonghua zaizao shanben (The Replicated Rare Books of China) of unlimited number of characters. Thirty-one projects involved publications with over 10 million characters. The Directorate’s report of 2005 admitted that many researchers
ARTICLE IN PRESS Development of state-managed publishing in China and publishers targeted grandness and exhaustiveness, which in some cases turned out to be impractical. Some large sets were rushed for printing, with relatively poor quality. Second, the costs for compiling and publishing have more than tripled over the recent decade. Compared to 10 years ago, authors’ remunerations have tripled; the price of paper and printing has doubled; labor cost has increased by six times, and the fees to use original materials have increased by five times; plus the project administration fees have increased significantly. Most of the works published as planned, however, are considered to be of high-quality and remarkable achievements. In particular, the publishing of Zhongguo jiben guji ku in electronic format stands out as a milestone in digitizing ancient texts (PCPACT, 2005). The project of Zhongguo jiben guji ku CD/DVD-ROM of about two billion characters, in fact, was a key grant project of the Work Commission on Collation and Research of Ancient Texts of Higher Education Institutions.1 The project was initiated in 1998, and its products were formally released on the market starting in 2005. Nonetheless, the Directorate’s digitization plans and policies have not progressed much since its 2004 conference on digitization, which aimed to solicit ideas and explore feasibility (Yang, 2006). In general, collating and analyzing ancient texts, unlike research and publishing in the fields of social sciences and contemporary studies, is less likely to be politically sensitive and invite scrutiny and censorship. The Division of Book Publishing Administration under GAPP, which is the Directorate’s host division, is also responsible for evaluating and censoring book contents through its Tushu shendu chu (Section of Book Contents Judgment). However, several big book projects initiated by the Directorate aim more at coordinating with the political agenda of the central authorities than promoting research on and knowledge from ancient texts. The large-scale book projects of Changcheng congshu (Great Wall Collectanea), Da Zhonghua wenku (Library of Grand China), and Zhonghua dadian (Encyclopedia Maxima of China) are three examples. On February 26, 2004, in response to a growth in developmental and educational problems among youth, the CCP Central Committee and the State Council released the circular ‘‘Several Opinions on Further Strengthening and Improving the Thought and Moral Development of Youths.’’ The running theme was to suggest educating youth with nationalism and patriotism in order to solve the youth problems. Changcheng congshu, one of the 196 projects funded under the Directorate’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010), was purposefully endorsed to answer the CCP’s political call. The project covers 180 titles, jointly undertaken by Zhonghua shuju and Shanghai guji chubanshe, two leading publishers. This book set is intended to help serve the purpose of popularizing China’s glorious history and traditional culture among youth and to raise their national awareness and pride. In the mid-1990s when China enhanced its efforts to gain accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), some found good opportunity to publish books spreading China’s
123 traditional knowledge and culture to the world. Because of its complex nature and large scale, the project of Da Zhonghua wenku was initiated in 1995 and listed in the 9th, 10th, and 11th Five-Year Plans (1995–2000, 2000–2005, 2006–2010). Initially, the publishing project was intended to select and compile 100 classic titles that best represent Chinese knowledge and culture and translate them into both modern Chinese and English. The time coverage ranges from pre-Qin (pre-221 BC) to 1911. A total of 14 presses such as Zhonghua shuju and Foreign Languages Press participate in the project. The series was quickly brought to the attention of the central authorities and won high-profile endorsement. In recent years, the project was expanded to include 105 titles, and the target completion date is 2009, the 60th anniversary of socialist China. As of early 2007, 51 titles had been published (PCPACT, 2006b). Furthermore, GAPP announced the project’s expansion to include translating and publishing the books in all five of the official languages of the United Nations, as well as other languages. In addition, 100 selected titles of post-1911 will be included (SCIO, 2007). Zhonghua dadian is expected to be the grandest leishu in Chinese history; it, too, covers important titles from the pre-Qin era to 1911. The project was proposed in the late 1980s and won the endorsement of central authorities in 1990. It is now planned to be completed in 2010, with over 20,000 book titles, about 0.8 billion characters. The framework of the leishu is adopted from that of Gu jin tu shu ji cheng, of Qing Dynasty, the largest leishu in history, but with combined modern classification systems. There are a total of 23 dian (standards or categories), including science and medicine, of which each has three sub-categories. In a Zhonghua da dian editorial meeting of 2006 organized by GAPP, the Minster of CCP Propaganda Liu Yunshan and State Councilor, former Minister of Education, Chen Zhili expressed endorsement from both the CCP Central Committee and the government. Ms. Chen stated that ‘‘the compilation and publishing of Zhonghua da dian is a significant indicator of economic prosperity and cultural advancement of today’s China; it is a must to build the superior socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and is a great cultural project benefiting both people of current time and people of future generations’’ (Chen, Z., 2006). Long Xinmin, then Director of GAPP, stated that the important significance of this book project should be understood in the five areas the book set will benefit: the sorting out and processing of ancients texts, the rescuing, preserving, and inheriting of traditional Chinese culture; the building of advanced socialist culture, the strengthening of the cohesion and unity of China’s ethnic groups; and with its science-related titles included, the project would benefit current scientific research and scholarly inquiries; it benefits the studying of Chinese culture by foreign scholars, and the promotion of Chinese culture to the world; and it benefits overseas scholars of Chinese origin in developing their China recognition, hence it benefits the promotion of the unity of ethnic Chinese and China’s final unification with Taiwan.2
1
Zhongguo jiben guji ku guangpan gongcheng qude zhongda jinzhai. Renmin Ribao (People’s Daily), March 17, 2001; Zhongguo jiben guji ku zai Wan chu guangpan. Anhui Shangbao (Anhui Business Newspaper), March 21, 2001.
2 Long Xinmin. (2006). Xinwen Chuban Shu Shuzhang Long Xinmin jiu Zhonghua Dadian da jizhe wen. www.gov.cn/zwhd/2006-06/22/ content_316917.htm.
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China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History (Guojia Qing shi zuanxiu lingdao xiaozu) In its official homepage, the Directorate of Qing History declares: In the last 600 years, there were only four times that the state compiled histories (of its immediate precedent). The first time was in 1368, the first year of the Ming Dynasty when Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the compilation of the Yuan shi. The second time was in 1645, the second year of the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Fulin ordered the compilation of the Ming shi, which was not completed until the Qianlong Reign (1736–1795). The third time was in 1914 when the Peking Government ordered the compilation of the Qing shi, which resulted in the Qing shi gao after 14 years of work. The fourth time is at present when the compilation of the Qing shi has just started. It’s an unusual centennial event.3 The motion to compile the Qing shi was put forward on three occasions after 1949, but could not be implemented largely due to rapid sociopolitical changes. The most serious motion and preparation happened in 1965, when Premier Zhou Enlai asked the CCP Ministry of Propaganda to set up a Qing History Compilation Commission. The Commission consisted of seven members, headed by Guo Yingqiu, Vice President of People’s University. As a result, the Qing History Research Group was founded in 1972. In 1978, the Research Group was developed into the Qing History Research Institute. The compilation could not be started then, but the institute has gained substantial growth sine 1978. The most recent motion to compile the Qing shi was officially proposed by scholars from Peking University and People’s University in 2001, representing a group of scholars from nine institutions sharing the same ideal. A variety of justifications for the proposal, particularly its pragmatic and scholarly significance, were widely reported. The strongest argument seemed to be the argument that ‘‘history is compiled in prosperous times’’ (shengshi xiu shi) (Dai & Li, 2003). Dai Yi of People’s University wrote: ‘‘For so-called shengshi xiu shi, the compilation of the Qing shi makes the statement that our China is embracing the arriving era of prosperity’’ (Dai, 2003, p. 94). This was echoed by Chen Zhili’s speech on Zhonghua dadian, as mentioned above. The comparison—that is, the juxtaposition of the current government with the strongest dynasties in history—could not but appeal to the state’s highest authorities. The proposal was promptly approved by the central authorities in 2002. The Leading Group was quickly founded, consisting of ranking officials from 14 important CCP and government departments: Culture and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage under Culture, Propaganda, Finance, Education, Planning, Personnel, GAPP, the CCP Central Committee Literature Research Office, Academy of Social Sciences, First Historical Archives, National Archives, National Library of China, Palace Museum, and People’s
C. Wang University. The Directorate is headed by the Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng. The Compilation Commission was created to consist of 25 noted historians, with Dai Yi as the Director, Ma Dazheng (Academy of Social Sciences), Zhu Chengru (Palace Museum), and Cheng Chongde (People’s University) as Deputy Directors. The significance of the Qing History project has been widely touted in that it will help people understand the long history and great culture of China, and it will help strengthen the development of socialist culture and national cohesion. In essence, the justifications and rhetoric are no different from earlier initiated large-scale publishing projects, such as the Zhonghua dadian. The officially endorsed principles of the project are the so-called ‘‘Three Combinations’’ (sange jiehe), namely, the combination of respecting historical facts and representing themes of today’s China, the combination of taking in past research results and making scholarly breakthroughs, and the combination of Chinese historical development and world historical evolution (Li, 2003; Zhen, 2005). Guidelines on how to achieve the nearly impossible ‘‘three combinations’’ were not spelled out in writing, but the compilers and editors have to keep the balance, both academically and politically. According to Yang Nianqun, the youngest member of the Compilation Commission, there are some unwritten bottom lines, one has to make sense of them and exercise caution (Xu, B., 2005b). The financial investment turned out to be enormous. Though sources differ on the amount of investment, and the Ministry of Finance’s appropriation information on cultural projects is not readily accessible to the public, the project is estimated to budget from 600 million yuan to 900 million yuan (Xu, B., 2005b). According to Ma Dazheng, Deputy Director of the Commission, appropriations from the Ministry of Finance specifically designated for the project will total 628 million yuan (Guo, 2006). Such specific sums of money are rarely revealed in the press. The funding stands out as the largest investment by the central government on a single research and publishing project in humanities and social sciences since 1949. The Commission had set up 170 sub-projects as of 2004, and more after that, each to be awarded a grant of about 400,000 yuan on average (Wu, 2004). Compared to other established grants awarded in the humanities and social sciences, the Qing History grants are very generous. In contrast, grants awarded to the Key Project, the Regular Project, and the the Young Researcher Project by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science in 2007 were only 130,000 yuan, 90,000 yuan, and 75,000 yuan, respectively.4 The commission delegates the projects by inviting selected scholars or by inviting bids, depending on each project’s situation. The 25-member commission, particularly the Director and three Deputy Directors, have the authority to invite scholars to participate directly or invite outside experts to review bids and make award decisions. Scholars differ on how to do history, or even on whether such an official historical account of the Qing should be 4
3
The Compilation Commission of China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History. Zhonghua wenshi wang, http://www. qinghistory.cn/cns/index.html.
The National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (Announcement). (2006). No. 29. Guanyu zuohao 2007 niandu guojia shehui kexue jijin xiangmu shenbao gongzuo de tongzhi. http:// www.npopss-cn.gov.cn/2006sj/20061207_2007sbtz.htm.
ARTICLE IN PRESS Development of state-managed publishing in China undertaken at all. It was reported that a number of scholars have questioned the feasibility of the initiative, the worthiness of such enormous investment, the forced connection between the Qing court and the current socialist government (Huang, 2002; Xu, B., 2005a, 2005b), and even the language capacities of the compilers in digesting the archives of both Qing Mandarin and other ethnic languages.5 Few dared to debate loudly the validity of the program authorized by the central authorities, but a few scholars, some anonymously, expressed doubts and critiques (Wu, 2004; Xu, B., 2005b). But those involved in the project heavily debated the book framework, style, and manual. Upon the approval of the Qing History project, the immediate task facing the Directorate was to reach a consensus on the framework of the book and compiling styles, as well as to review relevant literature and archival and library resources. In order to seek a common ground and find acceptable solutions, two national surveys and a considerable number of consultations, meetings and seminars were undertaken in 2002 and 2003. These resulted in the publication of a handbook of guidelines for compiling and writing, in about one million characters. It was finally agreed that the framework of the Qing History proper will include five parts: Tongji (annals), dianzhi (treaties), zhuanji (biographies), shibiao (tables), and tubiao (pictures). These five parts constitute the ‘‘main program.’’ The Commission set up five groups, each responsible for one part, as well as an overall Editorial Group. The history account proper will have 92 volumes, each in 350,000 characters. The total of the book set will be of 32.2 million characters (Zhen, 2005). The target year of publishing is 2011, the 90th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, or 2012. Literature review and archival research are indispensable prerequisites in history studies. Aside from setting up the book framework and devising guidelines and a compiler manual, the commission set out to identify the research trends and current status of the field, the literature and archives available in both China and overseas, as well as any unprocessed archives and how to process and access them. For those purposes, the commission has also set up the ‘‘infrastructure program’’ and the ‘‘supportive program.’’ The former involves the collecting and processing of Qing archives and literature, and the translating of relevant materials in Chinese ethnic languages and foreign languages; the latter entails the publishing of processed archives and bibliographies and the development of library collection, online information network, and the digital library. The three groups of Archives, Literature, and Translation are responsible for the infrastructure program. The three groups of Publishing, Networked Data Center, and Print Materials Center are responsible for the supportive program. To outside researchers and librarians, the infrastructure and supportive programs, in a certain sense, are more important than the Qing History proper. The literature review was mainly surveying current status and research trends, studying the success and lessons of compiling the Standard Yuan, Ming histories and Qing shi gao, and compiling directories of researchers. Research 5
Ma Ziyi. (undated). Women ruhe xiu Qing shi. http://www.china 1840-1949.com/modern/shownews.asp?NewsID=496.
125 publications in English, Russian and Japanese in recent decades were also examined. These surveys and studies have resulted in a number of useful bibliographies, summarized reports, and directories of scholars. Archival and library collections across China and in renowned institutions in foreign countries were also surveyed. Many rare and special materials that the Qing History Commission identified as immediately relevant and affordable were processed, collated, published, or digitized. As of January 2007, the commission through its Publishing Group has published 55 titles in a total of 396 volumes under the archival, literature, translation, research, and pictorial series.6 There are five titles with a total of 108 volumes in the archival series and 13 titles with a total of 248 volumes in the literature series. Many of these multiple-volume titles, particularly those based on materials preserved in the First Historical Archives, such as Gengzi shibian Qing gong dangan huibian (Archival Collection of Qing Court on the Incidents of 1900), Qingdai Zhongnanhai dangan (Zhongnanhai Archives of the Qing Dynasty), and Qingdai junjichu dianbao dang huibian (Archives of the Grand Council of the Qing Dynasty), are particularly useful to the larger research community and interested audience. By awarding grants and paying usage fees among others, the program has greatly benefited the traditionally budgettight archival establishments holding Qing archives, and the First Historical Archives in particular. With 5.5 million Qing Dynasty records, which is about half of its holdings, the First Historical Archives took the Qing History program as a godsend opportunity to improve its conventional practices and services and launch large-scale preservation, processing, publishing, and digitization projects (Tang, 2004). Largely based on the archival work at the First Historical Archives, searchable databases with a substantial amount of archival data are now available. Six categories of data have been uploaded, including over a quarter million records of Qing court communications,7 constituting the predominant collection of the digital library, which is still in the making. However, besides the inherent technological issues and risks of digitizing ancient Chinese documents (Chen, 2005), the Qing History Digital Library faces insurmountable challenges, largely originating from the program’s closed and restricted nature. First, the databases are restricted to the commission’s ‘‘expert users’’ only, who mainly are the 25 commission members, plus a small number of authorized experts. Both e-resources and print resources created by using government funds are not open to the larger community of researchers. Second, the digital library is developed to meet the needs of the majority of the commission members and experts who are aged and whose computer literacy is relatively low. Lastly, the archival rights issues have prevented the Networked Data Center from 6 The Publishing Group, Compilation Commission of China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History. Guojia Qing shi bianzuan weiyuanhui yi chuban tushu 55 zhong 396 ce. http://www.qinghistory.cn/cns/QSCXGC/XWZX/01/30/2007/19318.html. 7 The Archives Group, Compilation Commission of China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History. Dangan zu tigong de dangan yi shangwang fapu. http://www.qinghistory.cn/cns/XXFK/ 06/26/2006/17571.html; The Qing History Digital Library, http:// 219.238.183.147:4237/home/main/.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 126 organizing large-scale digitization. Standards creation and implementation, the coordination of digitalization at different institutions, and the federation of products and databases are issues not yet on the commission’s official agenda.8
National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers (Quanguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu) Back in 1958, a Directorate for gazetteers was established, but the compilation work could not be started at that time. In the late 1970s, following the end of the Cultural Revolution, the compiling and publishing of local gazetteers started first in a few counties and then spread to more regions. In response, the central government offered a green light to the bottom-up initiatives. From 1980, the central government began to issue circulars and orders to create a nationwide structure to direct and oversee the compilation of local gazetteers at provincial, city and county levels. In 1981, the China Local Gazetteers Association was founded and soon it launched large-scale training programs for staff working on local gazetteers. In 1983, the Directorate was officially established to plan and manage the compilation and publishing of local gazetteers at the county level and above (Xu, W., 2005; ZDB, 2006). In 1985, the Directorate released the ‘‘Provisional Guidelines on the New Compilation of Local Gazetteers’’ in order to institutionalize and standardize the compiling and publishing. This document was replaced by ‘‘Guidelines on Compiling Local Gazetteers’’ in 1998. Among its stipulations are that Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory must be the guiding principles; administrative and editorial activities must be ‘‘led by the CCP committee and undertaken by the government;’’ the local gazetteer should be compiled and published once every 20 years; and the published local gazetteer should be appended with an index. In 2006, the 1998 document was further replaced by the ‘‘Regulations on Local Gazetteers Work,’’ signed by Premier Wen Jiaobao and issued by the State Council.9 This law is considered the most significant achievement of the Directorate in efforts to institutionalize and standardize the work on local gazetteers. From this law, the Directorate is responsible for planning, coordinating, and overseeing the compilation and publishing of local gazetteers at the provincial, city/prefecture, and county levels. Local gazetteers at the three levels are written as the guanxiu zhengshi (government-compiled orthodox history). To that purpose, the compiling and publishing of local gazetteers are the exclusive domain and responsibility of the corresponding government; the writers and editors should meet certain professional standards; experts and scholars from outside should be invited as part-time compilers; and the quality control has to be guaranteed through relatively strict review 8 Lu Shouxin. Fuwu linian shenru tuijin wangluo zhongxin jianshe. http://www.qinghistory.cn/cns/QSCXGC/JGZZ/WLZX/11/07/2006/ 18725.html. 9 China State Council. Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Guowuyuan ling di 467 hao, Difangzhi gongzuo tiaoli. http://www.gov.cn/ziliao/ flfg/2006-05/29/content_294229.htm.
C. Wang procedures.10 The most significant changes in this law include the quiet elimination of the strict political requirements outlined in the 1998 Guidelines; the expansion of local gazetteers to include comprehensive yearbooks; the provision of operational costs related for local gazetteers from the government budget; and the designation of copyright for the published gazetteers/yearbooks to the government, not individual compilers and authors, who are entitled only to placing their names on the publications. The Directorate is hosted by the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), with CASS Director serving as Director, and a CASS deputy director as executive director. The Directorate consists of 38 members, mostly high-ranking officials from various government departments, the army and armed police, and a few CASS historian-officials. The Directorate has jurisdiction over local gazetteer offices at the provincial, city and county levels. The national local gazetteers network has about 20,000 full-time staff, of which most are professional editors, aided by about 100,000 part-time scholars and experts (Chen, K., 2006). Outside the three-level network, a great number of local gazetteers for city districts, towns and townships, or villages have also been compiled and published. This is especially true in economically and culturally developed regions where an increasing number of local gazetteers are created below the county level. In addition, local gazetteers and yearbooks on important mountains, rivers, and historical and cultural sites are published sometimes with little connection to the network of the Directorate. From the late 1970s through 2005, over 6000 comprehensive local gazetteers were compiled at the provincial, city/ prefecture, and county levels, and 5000 or more of these have been published. The two decades from the early 1980s to the early 20th century were considered the first round of compilation and publishing of local gazetteers. Local gazetteers of the first round were to cover the period from 1840 or earlier, depending on the local histories, up through the late 1970s or early 1980s. By the end of 2005, over 90% of the first round of targeted titles had been completed and published (Zhu, 2006). An additional 40,000 or more departmental, trade, town/township, and mountain/river gazetteers have been compiled and published. Over 80% of the province, city and county comprehensive yearbooks have been compiled and published. Furthermore, a great number of ancient local gazetteers have been collated and published (Chen, K., 2006; Zhu, 2006). In comparison, the total number of extant pre-1949 local gazetteers—that is, works dating from the Song Dynasty (with the earliest known local gazetteers) through the Republican period—is estimated to be just over 7000. About 90% of these were published during the Qing Dynasty (Wilkinson, 1998, p. 156). The past two or three decades, however, witnessed the production of the largest quantity of local gazetteers in Chinese history. In current gazetteers, as might expected, present conditions are more emphasized than historical evolution. As the first round of compilation and publishing drew to an end, the second round of compilation was launched in 2005, after thorough debates and careful preparations. Local 10
Xinghua News Agency news. Guowuyuan fazhiban fuzeren jiu Difangzhi gongzuo tiaoli da wen. Xinhua News, May 30, 2006.
ARTICLE IN PRESS Development of state-managed publishing in China gazetteers produced during the second round are expected to cover the period from the late 1970s to the very beginning of the 21st century. The guidelines have been revised numerous times and are being readied for official release,11 though Hainan and Xizang (Tibet) have not yet finished their first round of work. Xizang is allowed to start the second round of compilation without completing the first-round work, for it has been deemed impossible for Xizang to finish the first-round work. In contrast, seven provinces, 12 cities and 119 counties have already compiled and published their second round of local gazetteers (CNLGG, 2006). In addition to the published local gazetteers, a great many useful catalogs, studies, and bibliographies have been published. Among the most noteworthy bibliographies are Zhongguo difangzhi lianhe mulu (Union Catalog of China Local Gazetteers), Zhongguo difangzhi xiang lun (Annotated Bibliography of China Local Gazetteers), Zhongguo xinbian difangzhi mulu (Union Catalog of China Local Gazetteers Newly Compiled), Zhongguo fangzhi zongmu tiyao 1949–1999 (General Catalog of China Local Gazetteers 1949–1999), and Xinbian difangzhi zongmu tiyao (General Catalog of Newly Compiled Local Gazetteers). The Directorate has realized the importance of digitization and is determined to pursue such projects. Soon after it started its current term in 2003, the Directorate set up eight goals for its 5-year term, one of which was to create a federated online network for its national system. Substantial efforts have been made to realize all the goals but the goal of digitization (CNLGG, 2006). A great deal of digitization particularly website creation has been carried out locally, but many of the provincial and city-level websites are of poor quality (Zhang & Yang, 2005). One of the most useful contributions in this area has been the development of some online searchable catalogs and fulltext databases of some local gazetteers and yearbooks for the public to use for free. The websites of the local gazetteers offices of Beijing, Shandong, Shanghai and several other regions are good examples.12 According to officials of the Directorate, digitization projects, particularly website development and web-based database creation and integration, will eventually be expanded.13
Conclusion State-managed publishing, as seen in the publication of ancient texts, the Qing History project and extensive local gazetteer production, has expanded greatly as a direct result of endorsement by central authorities and the relatively heavy investment of political, financial and human resources. In large-scale book projects in dynastic China, particularly the Siku quanshu project of Qing Dynasty, truth, knowledge, and virtues were sought, in the final analysis, 11
The Office of China National Leading Group for Gazetteers. Zhongguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu bangongshi guanyu yinfa Dierci quanguo dierlun xiuzhi shidian zongguo jinyan jiaoliuhui jiyao de tongzhi, http://dfz.ssreader.com/show_News.asp?id=385. 12 Beijing, http://www.bjdfz.gov.cn/index.jsp. Shanghai, http:// www.shtong.gov.cn/. Shandong, http://www.infobase.gov.cn/. 13 Information was obtained from the author’s discussion on June 19, 2006, and e-mail communications on March 2, 2007, with the delegation of the National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers.
127 through coordination and conciliation between the state and scholars (Guy, 1987). Current state-managed publishing projects, particularly for ancient texts and Qing History, however, avail scholars of the best opportunities for seeking cooperation and unity with the state. As Dai Yi put it, the Qing History compilation project is the Three-Gorges Dam, the South-to-North Water Transfer, or the Qinghai–Tibet Railway in cultural construction; while any one of these economic construction projects would cost tens of billions of yuan, the Qing History project needs only a few hundred million yuan. The financial cost of the project is like nothing for the state, but its significance is tremendous (Zou, 2003). Through winning the license for large-scale projects, scholars may also dream of their scholarship being used in zi zheng (aiding governance), particularly when the principle of yi shi wei jian, gu wei jin yong (learning lessons from history, making the past serve the present) has figured prominently in state discourse from Mao’s time until today. Nonetheless, the state is concerned more about educating people to ai guo (love state), hopefully through the nationalism and patriotism advocated in state-sponsored scholarship. In the three publishing arenas discussed here, disagreement and constructive dialogue between scholars and the state are almost nowhere to be seen; and there exist few conditions where scholars will not surrender their pursuit of independent and critical scholarship for consistency and unity with state. The printed publications are scholarly works, however, and overall evince relatively good quality. Compared to the recent past dearth of data on China, the present is indeed a time of prosperity in terms of the availability of ample materials and data for researchers and librarians. At the same time, the cost of these materials is too expensive for a library to afford them all, and the amount of data is too vast for any single scholar to analyze. One has to be selective according to one’s research and collection priorities and realities. Meanwhile, digitized materials, particularly local gazetteers and yearbooks, are increasingly made available online and can be used for free. Given that the state’s investment in these projects—ancient texts, the Qing History, and gazetteers— comes from public tax money and digitization is both the trend in publishing and in the Directorates’ policy orientation, serious digitization plans and practices will surely be pursued in the foreseeable future. Thus, researchers and librarians may also look forward to the growth of research materials made available online.
References Chen, Kuiyuan (2006). Zai quanguo defangzhi xitong biaozhang xianjin huiyi shang de jianghua. Zhongguo difangzhi(5), 3–4. Chen, Li (2005). Guji shuzihua zhong de hanzi chuli wenti. Guji zhengli chuban qingkuang jianbao, 416(10). /http://www.guji. cn/opengjjb.php?id=76S. Chen, Zhili (2006). Zai jie zai li, maitou kugan, quebao Zhonghua dadian bianji chuban gongzuo zongti mubiao ruqi shixian. Renmin Ribao, May 31, 2006. CNLGG (The Office of China National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers) (2006). Zhongguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu bangongshi 2006 nian gongzuo yaodian. Zhongguo difangzhi(4), 7–9. Dai, Yi (2003). Bianzuan Qing shi de yuanqi yu bianzuan chu xiang. Shehui kexue zhanxian, 2003(2), 92–96.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 128 Dai, Yi, & Li, Wenhai (2003). Yidai shengshi kuangshi judian—guanyu daxing Qing shi de bianzuan. Qing shi yanjiu, 2003(2), 8–15. Guo, Xiaohong (2006). Qing shi zuanxiu ji chuban wenbu qianjin. Zhongguo xinwen chuban bao, June 13, 2006. Guy, R. Kent (1987). The emperor’s four treasuries: Scholars and the State in the late Ch’ien-lung era. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Huang, Limin (2002). Guanyu xiu Qing shi de zhengbian. Wenhui Daily (Xuelin ban), April 20, 2002. Li, Lanqing (2003). Li Lanqing tongzhi zai Qing shi bianzuan gongzuo zuotan hui shang qiangdiao nuli zuohao Qing shi bianzuan gongzuo wei Zhongguo tese shehu zhuyi jianshe fuwu. Renmin Ribao, January 29, 2003. Long, Xinmin (2006). Long Xinmin tongzhi zai Zhonghua Shuju diaoyan shi de jianghua. Guji zhengli chuban qingkuang jianbao, 429(11). /http://www.guji.cn/opengjjb.php?id=183S. PCPACT (The Office of National Leading Group for the Planning of Collating and Publishing of Ancient Texts) (2003). Gong zai qianqiu de shi ye. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju. PCPACT (2005). Guojia guji zhengli chuban ‘‘Shiwu’’ zhongdian guihua zhixing qingkuang jiancha gongzuo wancheng. Guji zhengli chuban qingkuang jianbao, 413(7). /http://www.guji. cn/opengjjb.php?id=53S. PCPACT (2006a). 2006 niandu guojia guji zhengli chuban butie pingyi huiyi zai Beijing zhaokai. Guji zhengli chuban qingkuang jianbao, 423(5). /http://www.guji.cn/opennews1.php?id=55S. PCPACT (2006b). Guojia guji zhengli chuban ‘‘Shiyi wu’’ (2006–2010) zhongdian guihua. Guji zhengli chuban qingkuang jianbao, 422(4). /http://www.guji.cn/opengjjb.php?id=126S. SCIO (China State Council Information Office) (2007). Xiang shijie shuoming Zhongguo—Da Zhonghua wenku zhengtao quanqiu
C. Wang shoufa shi. /http://webcast.china.com.cn/webcast/created/ 1035/34_1_0101_desc.htmS. Tang, Yinian (2004). Zuanxiu Qing shi gongcheng yu Qingdai dangan de zhengli. Lishi dangan, 2004(2), 3–6. Wilkinson, Endymion Porter (1998). Chinese history: A manual. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center for the HarvardYenching Institute. Wu, Shan (2004). Liu yi yuan renminbi da xiu Qing shi. Qingnian cankao, August 25, 2004. Xu, Baike (2005a). Hao zai Qing shi (shangpian). Zhongguo qingnian bao (China Youth Daily), February 2, 2005. Xu, Baike (2005b). Hao zai Qing shi (xia pian). Zhongguo qingnian bao (China Youth Daily), February 16, 2005. Xu, Weiping (2005). Shehuizhuyi xin shiqi shoulun fangzhi bianxiu ji fangzhixue yanjiu gailun. Yangzhou daxue xuebao (renwen shehui kexue ban), 9(6), 90–94. Yang, Muzhi (2006). Zai di liu ci quanguo guji chuban she bianji peishun ban kaixue dianli shang de jianghua. Guji zhengli chuban qingkuang jianbao, 428(10). /http://www.guji.cn/opengjlt1. php?id=58S. ZDB (Zhongguo difangzhi bianjibu) (2006). Zhongguo xinbian difangzhi 20 nian huihuang chengjiu. Zhongguo difangzhi, 2006(6), 17–21. Zhang, Yanhua, & Yang, Ru (2005). Woguo difangzhi wangzhan jianshe xianzhuang. Zhongguo difangzhi, 2005(11), 43–48. Zhen, Ming (2005). Qing shi zuanxiu ji shi (yi). Shehui kexue zhanxian, 2005(5), 178–182. Zhu, Jiamu (2006). Zai Zhongguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu sanjie sici huiyi shang de zongjie jianghua. Zhongguo difangzhi, 2006(6), 11–12. Zou, Ailian (2003). Zuanxiu Qing shi gongcheng yu dangan. Lishi dangan, 2003(4), 3–7.
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Development of state-managed publishing in China: Ancient texts, Qing History and current gazetteers$ Chengzhi Wang Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Summary This article examines the development and status of state-managed publishing in China by introducing and analyzing the history and development of the three most important national level directorates, i.e., the National Leading Group for the Planning of Collating and Publishing of Ancient Texts, the National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History, and the National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers. The article explores the history, publishing policies and operations of the three directorates, and the reasons why the state commits significant political, human and financial resources to publishing. It is argued that collaboration and unity between scholars and state, instead of independent scholarship and constructive dialogue, are ultimately pursued in the unprecedented large-scale publishing projects. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction As China turns wealthier and stronger, the Chinese government has increased its investment in large-scale book projects. Among the areas in which the state has exhibited special interest and committed significant resources are the analysis and editing of ancient texts, the writing of an official account of Qing history, and the compilation of gazetteers and yearbooks. Substantial political, human and $
This paper was presented in Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference 2007, in Panel 185 Access to Chinese Studies Resources in the Information Age: Trends, Challenges, and Strategies. The author acknowledges helpful comments from Dr. Tai-loi Ma, Panel Chair, Dr. Hilde De Weerdt, Panel Discussant, and Dr. Li Wang, Dr. Shuyong Jiang, and Dr. Jidong Yang, other three panel paper presenters. Dr. Lauran Hartley also carefully read and commented on the paper. Thanks are also due to anonymous reviewers. E-mail address: [email protected] 1057-2317/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2008.01.001
financial resources have been invested and a great number of publications printed in recent years. High-profile directorates at the national level, representing the top authorities of China, exercise effective management of scholarship and publishing in these three areas. These directorates include the National Leading Group for the Planning of Collating and Publishing of Ancient Texts (Quanguo guji zhengli chuban guihua lingdao xiaozu), the National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History (Guojia Qing shi zuanxiu lingdao xiaozu) and the National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers (Quanguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu). Overall, the state’s active involvement and endorsement contributes greatly to scholarly research and publishing. This paper briefly reviews the history, publishing policies and operations of the three directorates and introduces their main publishing initiatives and products. It also examines the impact, both expected and unexpected, of state management and investment on the development of
ARTICLE IN PRESS 122 source materials and library collections. The paper also attempts to provide some useful advice for librarians and scholars with regard to accessing and collecting such statemanaged publications, which are being issued in increasing quantity.
National Leading Group for the Planning of Collating and Publishing of Ancient Texts (Quanguo guji zhengli chuban guihua lingdao xiaozu) After some 10 years of experimentation and development following the civil war, socialist China was positioned for large-scale cultural programs and other radical changes. In 1958, the State Council created the Directorate of Ancient Texts. Qi Yanming, Deputy Minister of Culture, headed the group. The Directorate was housed in Zhonghua shuju, a leading publisher specializing in ancient texts. The Directorate’s primary work was to draft the ‘‘Major Plan on Collating and Publishing Ancient Texts in Three to Eight Years (1960–1967).’’ The plan was socialist China’s first governmental document on collating and publishing ancient texts, and a great number of high-quality classics were then collated and published—in particular, large sets such as The Complete Tang Poetry (Quan Tang shi) and the Complete Song Ci-poetry (Quan Song Ci). During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the Directorate, like most academic and cultural establishments in China, was suspended. However, Chairman Mao cherished strong and sustained interest in standard histories, and in 1971 the work of punctuating, collating and annotating the 24 Standard Dynastic Histories (24 shi) and the Draft Standard History of the Qing (Qing shi gao) were ordered to continue. With the best historians summoned to Beijing for this project, the 24 shi and Qing shi gao were completed in 1975 and published as a set of 299 volumes of 38 million characters. This set was considered the first large-scale, high-quality publishing project of ancient texts in China. After China started to reform and open up in the late 1970s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee issued the ‘‘Order on Collating and Publishing Our Country’s Ancient Texts’’ (1981), and the State Council soon resurrected the Directorate of Ancient Texts. In 1982, the Directorate laid out its plans for 1982–1990, and the State Council earmarked special funds for its implementation. The following year, a parallel organization was created under the Ministry of Education. It was called the Work Commission on the Collation and Research of Ancient Texts in Institutions of Higher Education, and similar commissions were formed in the ministries of Agriculture, Public Health, and Ethnic Affairs. In 1999, the State Council reorganized the Directorate and placed it under the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). Since then, the director of GAPP has headed the Directorate; and the GAPP’s Division of Book Publishing Management has served as host for the Directorate. The major responsibilities of the Directorate continue to be planning, coordinating, and overseeing the implementation of the plans (PCPACT, 2003). In recent years, however, its role in seeking appropriations from the Ministry of Finance via GAPP, inviting and accepting book proposals,
C. Wang and giving out grants has become as significant as planning and administering the publication of ancient texts. The Directorate relies on publishers to solicit authors’ manuscripts and to produce and print the books. Publishers often invite experts to participate in book projects, for which publishers submit grant proposals to the Directorate. After evaluating the proposals, the Directorate selects a certain number of projects for inclusion in a national publishing plan, normally for a 5- or 10-year period. In response to an increasingly challenging book market in the new era, a guild of 19 publishers specializing in the collation and publication of ancient texts was formed in 1999. The membership has since increased to 22. The guild promotes the interests of the ancient text publishing industry, particularly in publishing market-oriented books and coordinating efforts to increase book sales. Only 29% of the book titles published by these 22 presses are actually related to ancient texts (Yang, 2006). Other publishers, especially academic and university presses, also publish books related to ancient texts. The 22 guild members, however, serve as the major force in the industry. It is mainly these publishers’ proposals that help the Directorate formulate its planning; and it is mainly these publishers who implement the Directorate’s plans successfully, or not. With the belief that it is hard to make a profit publishing ancient texts in a much freer book market, the Directorate started subsidizing such publishers with grants since 1992. Since 2000, the annual grants have increased significantly, from 2.43 million yuan in 2000, 2.878 million in 2001, 3.695 million in 2002, 4.882 in 2003, 6 million in 2004, to 6.12 million yuan in 2005 (PCPACT, 2005). The major portion of the grants usually goes to the 22 guild members. In 2006, the Directorate received 259 grant proposals from 74 publishers. In all, 105 were accepted and a total of 7.37 million yuan was awarded. Of the 105 awards, 82 went to the 22 presses; this represented a total of 6.71 million yuan, accounting for 91% of the total grants (PCPACT, 2006a). Just recently, the Ministry of Finance increased its annual appropriation for the Directorate to about 10 million yuan—representing another huge increase in funding. In addition, the Ministry will, starting in 2007, allocate special annual funds to create a Publishing Foundation under GAPP to support large-scale publishing projects related to ancient texts. The foundation was first started with 100 million yuan, of which 40 million will be used for Zhonghua dadian, the grand leishu (classified books or encyclopedias) of today’s China intended to surpass all precedents in history in both quantity and quality (Long, 2006). Despite the substantial increase of government funding, the publishing projects in recent years were not all completed as planned. During the 10th Five-Year Plan (2000–2005), 13 of the 207 planned book projects, or about 6%, were withdrawn. Another 12.5% could not be completed during 2006. The Directorate admitted to two major reasons: first, many projects are very ambitious series of congshu (collectanea) or jikan (anthologies), such as Zhonggua jiben guji ku (The Library of Essential Ancient Texts of China) of three billion characters and Zhonghua zaizao shanben (The Replicated Rare Books of China) of unlimited number of characters. Thirty-one projects involved publications with over 10 million characters. The Directorate’s report of 2005 admitted that many researchers
ARTICLE IN PRESS Development of state-managed publishing in China and publishers targeted grandness and exhaustiveness, which in some cases turned out to be impractical. Some large sets were rushed for printing, with relatively poor quality. Second, the costs for compiling and publishing have more than tripled over the recent decade. Compared to 10 years ago, authors’ remunerations have tripled; the price of paper and printing has doubled; labor cost has increased by six times, and the fees to use original materials have increased by five times; plus the project administration fees have increased significantly. Most of the works published as planned, however, are considered to be of high-quality and remarkable achievements. In particular, the publishing of Zhongguo jiben guji ku in electronic format stands out as a milestone in digitizing ancient texts (PCPACT, 2005). The project of Zhongguo jiben guji ku CD/DVD-ROM of about two billion characters, in fact, was a key grant project of the Work Commission on Collation and Research of Ancient Texts of Higher Education Institutions.1 The project was initiated in 1998, and its products were formally released on the market starting in 2005. Nonetheless, the Directorate’s digitization plans and policies have not progressed much since its 2004 conference on digitization, which aimed to solicit ideas and explore feasibility (Yang, 2006). In general, collating and analyzing ancient texts, unlike research and publishing in the fields of social sciences and contemporary studies, is less likely to be politically sensitive and invite scrutiny and censorship. The Division of Book Publishing Administration under GAPP, which is the Directorate’s host division, is also responsible for evaluating and censoring book contents through its Tushu shendu chu (Section of Book Contents Judgment). However, several big book projects initiated by the Directorate aim more at coordinating with the political agenda of the central authorities than promoting research on and knowledge from ancient texts. The large-scale book projects of Changcheng congshu (Great Wall Collectanea), Da Zhonghua wenku (Library of Grand China), and Zhonghua dadian (Encyclopedia Maxima of China) are three examples. On February 26, 2004, in response to a growth in developmental and educational problems among youth, the CCP Central Committee and the State Council released the circular ‘‘Several Opinions on Further Strengthening and Improving the Thought and Moral Development of Youths.’’ The running theme was to suggest educating youth with nationalism and patriotism in order to solve the youth problems. Changcheng congshu, one of the 196 projects funded under the Directorate’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010), was purposefully endorsed to answer the CCP’s political call. The project covers 180 titles, jointly undertaken by Zhonghua shuju and Shanghai guji chubanshe, two leading publishers. This book set is intended to help serve the purpose of popularizing China’s glorious history and traditional culture among youth and to raise their national awareness and pride. In the mid-1990s when China enhanced its efforts to gain accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), some found good opportunity to publish books spreading China’s
123 traditional knowledge and culture to the world. Because of its complex nature and large scale, the project of Da Zhonghua wenku was initiated in 1995 and listed in the 9th, 10th, and 11th Five-Year Plans (1995–2000, 2000–2005, 2006–2010). Initially, the publishing project was intended to select and compile 100 classic titles that best represent Chinese knowledge and culture and translate them into both modern Chinese and English. The time coverage ranges from pre-Qin (pre-221 BC) to 1911. A total of 14 presses such as Zhonghua shuju and Foreign Languages Press participate in the project. The series was quickly brought to the attention of the central authorities and won high-profile endorsement. In recent years, the project was expanded to include 105 titles, and the target completion date is 2009, the 60th anniversary of socialist China. As of early 2007, 51 titles had been published (PCPACT, 2006b). Furthermore, GAPP announced the project’s expansion to include translating and publishing the books in all five of the official languages of the United Nations, as well as other languages. In addition, 100 selected titles of post-1911 will be included (SCIO, 2007). Zhonghua dadian is expected to be the grandest leishu in Chinese history; it, too, covers important titles from the pre-Qin era to 1911. The project was proposed in the late 1980s and won the endorsement of central authorities in 1990. It is now planned to be completed in 2010, with over 20,000 book titles, about 0.8 billion characters. The framework of the leishu is adopted from that of Gu jin tu shu ji cheng, of Qing Dynasty, the largest leishu in history, but with combined modern classification systems. There are a total of 23 dian (standards or categories), including science and medicine, of which each has three sub-categories. In a Zhonghua da dian editorial meeting of 2006 organized by GAPP, the Minster of CCP Propaganda Liu Yunshan and State Councilor, former Minister of Education, Chen Zhili expressed endorsement from both the CCP Central Committee and the government. Ms. Chen stated that ‘‘the compilation and publishing of Zhonghua da dian is a significant indicator of economic prosperity and cultural advancement of today’s China; it is a must to build the superior socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and is a great cultural project benefiting both people of current time and people of future generations’’ (Chen, Z., 2006). Long Xinmin, then Director of GAPP, stated that the important significance of this book project should be understood in the five areas the book set will benefit: the sorting out and processing of ancients texts, the rescuing, preserving, and inheriting of traditional Chinese culture; the building of advanced socialist culture, the strengthening of the cohesion and unity of China’s ethnic groups; and with its science-related titles included, the project would benefit current scientific research and scholarly inquiries; it benefits the studying of Chinese culture by foreign scholars, and the promotion of Chinese culture to the world; and it benefits overseas scholars of Chinese origin in developing their China recognition, hence it benefits the promotion of the unity of ethnic Chinese and China’s final unification with Taiwan.2
1
Zhongguo jiben guji ku guangpan gongcheng qude zhongda jinzhai. Renmin Ribao (People’s Daily), March 17, 2001; Zhongguo jiben guji ku zai Wan chu guangpan. Anhui Shangbao (Anhui Business Newspaper), March 21, 2001.
2 Long Xinmin. (2006). Xinwen Chuban Shu Shuzhang Long Xinmin jiu Zhonghua Dadian da jizhe wen. www.gov.cn/zwhd/2006-06/22/ content_316917.htm.
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China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History (Guojia Qing shi zuanxiu lingdao xiaozu) In its official homepage, the Directorate of Qing History declares: In the last 600 years, there were only four times that the state compiled histories (of its immediate precedent). The first time was in 1368, the first year of the Ming Dynasty when Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the compilation of the Yuan shi. The second time was in 1645, the second year of the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Fulin ordered the compilation of the Ming shi, which was not completed until the Qianlong Reign (1736–1795). The third time was in 1914 when the Peking Government ordered the compilation of the Qing shi, which resulted in the Qing shi gao after 14 years of work. The fourth time is at present when the compilation of the Qing shi has just started. It’s an unusual centennial event.3 The motion to compile the Qing shi was put forward on three occasions after 1949, but could not be implemented largely due to rapid sociopolitical changes. The most serious motion and preparation happened in 1965, when Premier Zhou Enlai asked the CCP Ministry of Propaganda to set up a Qing History Compilation Commission. The Commission consisted of seven members, headed by Guo Yingqiu, Vice President of People’s University. As a result, the Qing History Research Group was founded in 1972. In 1978, the Research Group was developed into the Qing History Research Institute. The compilation could not be started then, but the institute has gained substantial growth sine 1978. The most recent motion to compile the Qing shi was officially proposed by scholars from Peking University and People’s University in 2001, representing a group of scholars from nine institutions sharing the same ideal. A variety of justifications for the proposal, particularly its pragmatic and scholarly significance, were widely reported. The strongest argument seemed to be the argument that ‘‘history is compiled in prosperous times’’ (shengshi xiu shi) (Dai & Li, 2003). Dai Yi of People’s University wrote: ‘‘For so-called shengshi xiu shi, the compilation of the Qing shi makes the statement that our China is embracing the arriving era of prosperity’’ (Dai, 2003, p. 94). This was echoed by Chen Zhili’s speech on Zhonghua dadian, as mentioned above. The comparison—that is, the juxtaposition of the current government with the strongest dynasties in history—could not but appeal to the state’s highest authorities. The proposal was promptly approved by the central authorities in 2002. The Leading Group was quickly founded, consisting of ranking officials from 14 important CCP and government departments: Culture and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage under Culture, Propaganda, Finance, Education, Planning, Personnel, GAPP, the CCP Central Committee Literature Research Office, Academy of Social Sciences, First Historical Archives, National Archives, National Library of China, Palace Museum, and People’s
C. Wang University. The Directorate is headed by the Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng. The Compilation Commission was created to consist of 25 noted historians, with Dai Yi as the Director, Ma Dazheng (Academy of Social Sciences), Zhu Chengru (Palace Museum), and Cheng Chongde (People’s University) as Deputy Directors. The significance of the Qing History project has been widely touted in that it will help people understand the long history and great culture of China, and it will help strengthen the development of socialist culture and national cohesion. In essence, the justifications and rhetoric are no different from earlier initiated large-scale publishing projects, such as the Zhonghua dadian. The officially endorsed principles of the project are the so-called ‘‘Three Combinations’’ (sange jiehe), namely, the combination of respecting historical facts and representing themes of today’s China, the combination of taking in past research results and making scholarly breakthroughs, and the combination of Chinese historical development and world historical evolution (Li, 2003; Zhen, 2005). Guidelines on how to achieve the nearly impossible ‘‘three combinations’’ were not spelled out in writing, but the compilers and editors have to keep the balance, both academically and politically. According to Yang Nianqun, the youngest member of the Compilation Commission, there are some unwritten bottom lines, one has to make sense of them and exercise caution (Xu, B., 2005b). The financial investment turned out to be enormous. Though sources differ on the amount of investment, and the Ministry of Finance’s appropriation information on cultural projects is not readily accessible to the public, the project is estimated to budget from 600 million yuan to 900 million yuan (Xu, B., 2005b). According to Ma Dazheng, Deputy Director of the Commission, appropriations from the Ministry of Finance specifically designated for the project will total 628 million yuan (Guo, 2006). Such specific sums of money are rarely revealed in the press. The funding stands out as the largest investment by the central government on a single research and publishing project in humanities and social sciences since 1949. The Commission had set up 170 sub-projects as of 2004, and more after that, each to be awarded a grant of about 400,000 yuan on average (Wu, 2004). Compared to other established grants awarded in the humanities and social sciences, the Qing History grants are very generous. In contrast, grants awarded to the Key Project, the Regular Project, and the the Young Researcher Project by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science in 2007 were only 130,000 yuan, 90,000 yuan, and 75,000 yuan, respectively.4 The commission delegates the projects by inviting selected scholars or by inviting bids, depending on each project’s situation. The 25-member commission, particularly the Director and three Deputy Directors, have the authority to invite scholars to participate directly or invite outside experts to review bids and make award decisions. Scholars differ on how to do history, or even on whether such an official historical account of the Qing should be 4
3
The Compilation Commission of China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History. Zhonghua wenshi wang, http://www. qinghistory.cn/cns/index.html.
The National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (Announcement). (2006). No. 29. Guanyu zuohao 2007 niandu guojia shehui kexue jijin xiangmu shenbao gongzuo de tongzhi. http:// www.npopss-cn.gov.cn/2006sj/20061207_2007sbtz.htm.
ARTICLE IN PRESS Development of state-managed publishing in China undertaken at all. It was reported that a number of scholars have questioned the feasibility of the initiative, the worthiness of such enormous investment, the forced connection between the Qing court and the current socialist government (Huang, 2002; Xu, B., 2005a, 2005b), and even the language capacities of the compilers in digesting the archives of both Qing Mandarin and other ethnic languages.5 Few dared to debate loudly the validity of the program authorized by the central authorities, but a few scholars, some anonymously, expressed doubts and critiques (Wu, 2004; Xu, B., 2005b). But those involved in the project heavily debated the book framework, style, and manual. Upon the approval of the Qing History project, the immediate task facing the Directorate was to reach a consensus on the framework of the book and compiling styles, as well as to review relevant literature and archival and library resources. In order to seek a common ground and find acceptable solutions, two national surveys and a considerable number of consultations, meetings and seminars were undertaken in 2002 and 2003. These resulted in the publication of a handbook of guidelines for compiling and writing, in about one million characters. It was finally agreed that the framework of the Qing History proper will include five parts: Tongji (annals), dianzhi (treaties), zhuanji (biographies), shibiao (tables), and tubiao (pictures). These five parts constitute the ‘‘main program.’’ The Commission set up five groups, each responsible for one part, as well as an overall Editorial Group. The history account proper will have 92 volumes, each in 350,000 characters. The total of the book set will be of 32.2 million characters (Zhen, 2005). The target year of publishing is 2011, the 90th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, or 2012. Literature review and archival research are indispensable prerequisites in history studies. Aside from setting up the book framework and devising guidelines and a compiler manual, the commission set out to identify the research trends and current status of the field, the literature and archives available in both China and overseas, as well as any unprocessed archives and how to process and access them. For those purposes, the commission has also set up the ‘‘infrastructure program’’ and the ‘‘supportive program.’’ The former involves the collecting and processing of Qing archives and literature, and the translating of relevant materials in Chinese ethnic languages and foreign languages; the latter entails the publishing of processed archives and bibliographies and the development of library collection, online information network, and the digital library. The three groups of Archives, Literature, and Translation are responsible for the infrastructure program. The three groups of Publishing, Networked Data Center, and Print Materials Center are responsible for the supportive program. To outside researchers and librarians, the infrastructure and supportive programs, in a certain sense, are more important than the Qing History proper. The literature review was mainly surveying current status and research trends, studying the success and lessons of compiling the Standard Yuan, Ming histories and Qing shi gao, and compiling directories of researchers. Research 5
Ma Ziyi. (undated). Women ruhe xiu Qing shi. http://www.china 1840-1949.com/modern/shownews.asp?NewsID=496.
125 publications in English, Russian and Japanese in recent decades were also examined. These surveys and studies have resulted in a number of useful bibliographies, summarized reports, and directories of scholars. Archival and library collections across China and in renowned institutions in foreign countries were also surveyed. Many rare and special materials that the Qing History Commission identified as immediately relevant and affordable were processed, collated, published, or digitized. As of January 2007, the commission through its Publishing Group has published 55 titles in a total of 396 volumes under the archival, literature, translation, research, and pictorial series.6 There are five titles with a total of 108 volumes in the archival series and 13 titles with a total of 248 volumes in the literature series. Many of these multiple-volume titles, particularly those based on materials preserved in the First Historical Archives, such as Gengzi shibian Qing gong dangan huibian (Archival Collection of Qing Court on the Incidents of 1900), Qingdai Zhongnanhai dangan (Zhongnanhai Archives of the Qing Dynasty), and Qingdai junjichu dianbao dang huibian (Archives of the Grand Council of the Qing Dynasty), are particularly useful to the larger research community and interested audience. By awarding grants and paying usage fees among others, the program has greatly benefited the traditionally budgettight archival establishments holding Qing archives, and the First Historical Archives in particular. With 5.5 million Qing Dynasty records, which is about half of its holdings, the First Historical Archives took the Qing History program as a godsend opportunity to improve its conventional practices and services and launch large-scale preservation, processing, publishing, and digitization projects (Tang, 2004). Largely based on the archival work at the First Historical Archives, searchable databases with a substantial amount of archival data are now available. Six categories of data have been uploaded, including over a quarter million records of Qing court communications,7 constituting the predominant collection of the digital library, which is still in the making. However, besides the inherent technological issues and risks of digitizing ancient Chinese documents (Chen, 2005), the Qing History Digital Library faces insurmountable challenges, largely originating from the program’s closed and restricted nature. First, the databases are restricted to the commission’s ‘‘expert users’’ only, who mainly are the 25 commission members, plus a small number of authorized experts. Both e-resources and print resources created by using government funds are not open to the larger community of researchers. Second, the digital library is developed to meet the needs of the majority of the commission members and experts who are aged and whose computer literacy is relatively low. Lastly, the archival rights issues have prevented the Networked Data Center from 6 The Publishing Group, Compilation Commission of China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History. Guojia Qing shi bianzuan weiyuanhui yi chuban tushu 55 zhong 396 ce. http://www.qinghistory.cn/cns/QSCXGC/XWZX/01/30/2007/19318.html. 7 The Archives Group, Compilation Commission of China National Leading Group for Compiling Qing History. Dangan zu tigong de dangan yi shangwang fapu. http://www.qinghistory.cn/cns/XXFK/ 06/26/2006/17571.html; The Qing History Digital Library, http:// 219.238.183.147:4237/home/main/.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 126 organizing large-scale digitization. Standards creation and implementation, the coordination of digitalization at different institutions, and the federation of products and databases are issues not yet on the commission’s official agenda.8
National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers (Quanguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu) Back in 1958, a Directorate for gazetteers was established, but the compilation work could not be started at that time. In the late 1970s, following the end of the Cultural Revolution, the compiling and publishing of local gazetteers started first in a few counties and then spread to more regions. In response, the central government offered a green light to the bottom-up initiatives. From 1980, the central government began to issue circulars and orders to create a nationwide structure to direct and oversee the compilation of local gazetteers at provincial, city and county levels. In 1981, the China Local Gazetteers Association was founded and soon it launched large-scale training programs for staff working on local gazetteers. In 1983, the Directorate was officially established to plan and manage the compilation and publishing of local gazetteers at the county level and above (Xu, W., 2005; ZDB, 2006). In 1985, the Directorate released the ‘‘Provisional Guidelines on the New Compilation of Local Gazetteers’’ in order to institutionalize and standardize the compiling and publishing. This document was replaced by ‘‘Guidelines on Compiling Local Gazetteers’’ in 1998. Among its stipulations are that Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory must be the guiding principles; administrative and editorial activities must be ‘‘led by the CCP committee and undertaken by the government;’’ the local gazetteer should be compiled and published once every 20 years; and the published local gazetteer should be appended with an index. In 2006, the 1998 document was further replaced by the ‘‘Regulations on Local Gazetteers Work,’’ signed by Premier Wen Jiaobao and issued by the State Council.9 This law is considered the most significant achievement of the Directorate in efforts to institutionalize and standardize the work on local gazetteers. From this law, the Directorate is responsible for planning, coordinating, and overseeing the compilation and publishing of local gazetteers at the provincial, city/prefecture, and county levels. Local gazetteers at the three levels are written as the guanxiu zhengshi (government-compiled orthodox history). To that purpose, the compiling and publishing of local gazetteers are the exclusive domain and responsibility of the corresponding government; the writers and editors should meet certain professional standards; experts and scholars from outside should be invited as part-time compilers; and the quality control has to be guaranteed through relatively strict review 8 Lu Shouxin. Fuwu linian shenru tuijin wangluo zhongxin jianshe. http://www.qinghistory.cn/cns/QSCXGC/JGZZ/WLZX/11/07/2006/ 18725.html. 9 China State Council. Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Guowuyuan ling di 467 hao, Difangzhi gongzuo tiaoli. http://www.gov.cn/ziliao/ flfg/2006-05/29/content_294229.htm.
C. Wang procedures.10 The most significant changes in this law include the quiet elimination of the strict political requirements outlined in the 1998 Guidelines; the expansion of local gazetteers to include comprehensive yearbooks; the provision of operational costs related for local gazetteers from the government budget; and the designation of copyright for the published gazetteers/yearbooks to the government, not individual compilers and authors, who are entitled only to placing their names on the publications. The Directorate is hosted by the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), with CASS Director serving as Director, and a CASS deputy director as executive director. The Directorate consists of 38 members, mostly high-ranking officials from various government departments, the army and armed police, and a few CASS historian-officials. The Directorate has jurisdiction over local gazetteer offices at the provincial, city and county levels. The national local gazetteers network has about 20,000 full-time staff, of which most are professional editors, aided by about 100,000 part-time scholars and experts (Chen, K., 2006). Outside the three-level network, a great number of local gazetteers for city districts, towns and townships, or villages have also been compiled and published. This is especially true in economically and culturally developed regions where an increasing number of local gazetteers are created below the county level. In addition, local gazetteers and yearbooks on important mountains, rivers, and historical and cultural sites are published sometimes with little connection to the network of the Directorate. From the late 1970s through 2005, over 6000 comprehensive local gazetteers were compiled at the provincial, city/ prefecture, and county levels, and 5000 or more of these have been published. The two decades from the early 1980s to the early 20th century were considered the first round of compilation and publishing of local gazetteers. Local gazetteers of the first round were to cover the period from 1840 or earlier, depending on the local histories, up through the late 1970s or early 1980s. By the end of 2005, over 90% of the first round of targeted titles had been completed and published (Zhu, 2006). An additional 40,000 or more departmental, trade, town/township, and mountain/river gazetteers have been compiled and published. Over 80% of the province, city and county comprehensive yearbooks have been compiled and published. Furthermore, a great number of ancient local gazetteers have been collated and published (Chen, K., 2006; Zhu, 2006). In comparison, the total number of extant pre-1949 local gazetteers—that is, works dating from the Song Dynasty (with the earliest known local gazetteers) through the Republican period—is estimated to be just over 7000. About 90% of these were published during the Qing Dynasty (Wilkinson, 1998, p. 156). The past two or three decades, however, witnessed the production of the largest quantity of local gazetteers in Chinese history. In current gazetteers, as might expected, present conditions are more emphasized than historical evolution. As the first round of compilation and publishing drew to an end, the second round of compilation was launched in 2005, after thorough debates and careful preparations. Local 10
Xinghua News Agency news. Guowuyuan fazhiban fuzeren jiu Difangzhi gongzuo tiaoli da wen. Xinhua News, May 30, 2006.
ARTICLE IN PRESS Development of state-managed publishing in China gazetteers produced during the second round are expected to cover the period from the late 1970s to the very beginning of the 21st century. The guidelines have been revised numerous times and are being readied for official release,11 though Hainan and Xizang (Tibet) have not yet finished their first round of work. Xizang is allowed to start the second round of compilation without completing the first-round work, for it has been deemed impossible for Xizang to finish the first-round work. In contrast, seven provinces, 12 cities and 119 counties have already compiled and published their second round of local gazetteers (CNLGG, 2006). In addition to the published local gazetteers, a great many useful catalogs, studies, and bibliographies have been published. Among the most noteworthy bibliographies are Zhongguo difangzhi lianhe mulu (Union Catalog of China Local Gazetteers), Zhongguo difangzhi xiang lun (Annotated Bibliography of China Local Gazetteers), Zhongguo xinbian difangzhi mulu (Union Catalog of China Local Gazetteers Newly Compiled), Zhongguo fangzhi zongmu tiyao 1949–1999 (General Catalog of China Local Gazetteers 1949–1999), and Xinbian difangzhi zongmu tiyao (General Catalog of Newly Compiled Local Gazetteers). The Directorate has realized the importance of digitization and is determined to pursue such projects. Soon after it started its current term in 2003, the Directorate set up eight goals for its 5-year term, one of which was to create a federated online network for its national system. Substantial efforts have been made to realize all the goals but the goal of digitization (CNLGG, 2006). A great deal of digitization particularly website creation has been carried out locally, but many of the provincial and city-level websites are of poor quality (Zhang & Yang, 2005). One of the most useful contributions in this area has been the development of some online searchable catalogs and fulltext databases of some local gazetteers and yearbooks for the public to use for free. The websites of the local gazetteers offices of Beijing, Shandong, Shanghai and several other regions are good examples.12 According to officials of the Directorate, digitization projects, particularly website development and web-based database creation and integration, will eventually be expanded.13
Conclusion State-managed publishing, as seen in the publication of ancient texts, the Qing History project and extensive local gazetteer production, has expanded greatly as a direct result of endorsement by central authorities and the relatively heavy investment of political, financial and human resources. In large-scale book projects in dynastic China, particularly the Siku quanshu project of Qing Dynasty, truth, knowledge, and virtues were sought, in the final analysis, 11
The Office of China National Leading Group for Gazetteers. Zhongguo difangzhi zhidao xiaozu bangongshi guanyu yinfa Dierci quanguo dierlun xiuzhi shidian zongguo jinyan jiaoliuhui jiyao de tongzhi, http://dfz.ssreader.com/show_News.asp?id=385. 12 Beijing, http://www.bjdfz.gov.cn/index.jsp. Shanghai, http:// www.shtong.gov.cn/. Shandong, http://www.infobase.gov.cn/. 13 Information was obtained from the author’s discussion on June 19, 2006, and e-mail communications on March 2, 2007, with the delegation of the National Leading Group for Local Gazetteers.
127 through coordination and conciliation between the state and scholars (Guy, 1987). Current state-managed publishing projects, particularly for ancient texts and Qing History, however, avail scholars of the best opportunities for seeking cooperation and unity with the state. As Dai Yi put it, the Qing History compilation project is the Three-Gorges Dam, the South-to-North Water Transfer, or the Qinghai–Tibet Railway in cultural construction; while any one of these economic construction projects would cost tens of billions of yuan, the Qing History project needs only a few hundred million yuan. The financial cost of the project is like nothing for the state, but its significance is tremendous (Zou, 2003). Through winning the license for large-scale projects, scholars may also dream of their scholarship being used in zi zheng (aiding governance), particularly when the principle of yi shi wei jian, gu wei jin yong (learning lessons from history, making the past serve the present) has figured prominently in state discourse from Mao’s time until today. Nonetheless, the state is concerned more about educating people to ai guo (love state), hopefully through the nationalism and patriotism advocated in state-sponsored scholarship. In the three publishing arenas discussed here, disagreement and constructive dialogue between scholars and the state are almost nowhere to be seen; and there exist few conditions where scholars will not surrender their pursuit of independent and critical scholarship for consistency and unity with state. The printed publications are scholarly works, however, and overall evince relatively good quality. Compared to the recent past dearth of data on China, the present is indeed a time of prosperity in terms of the availability of ample materials and data for researchers and librarians. At the same time, the cost of these materials is too expensive for a library to afford them all, and the amount of data is too vast for any single scholar to analyze. One has to be selective according to one’s research and collection priorities and realities. Meanwhile, digitized materials, particularly local gazetteers and yearbooks, are increasingly made available online and can be used for free. Given that the state’s investment in these projects—ancient texts, the Qing History, and gazetteers— comes from public tax money and digitization is both the trend in publishing and in the Directorates’ policy orientation, serious digitization plans and practices will surely be pursued in the foreseeable future. Thus, researchers and librarians may also look forward to the growth of research materials made available online.
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